1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for taking out a single long-continuous blank such as metal pipe or rod of a small diameter, from a bundle of long-continuous blanks stacked in a hopper and feeding it from its tip to a subsequent machining station such as a straightening device.
2. Description of Prior Art
It has been proposed to provide the apparatus for automatically taking out a single long-continuous blank from bundle of 50 to 100 long-continuous blanks (each having a diameter of less than about 20 mm ). The conventional apparatus have been used limitatively for taking out the single long-continuous blank from a bundle of long-continuous blanks. When used for taking out the single long-continuous blank from the bundle containing bent long-continuous blanks, it has been difficult to take out the single long-continuous blank, since the bent long-continuous blanks were a cause of entangling the blanks with one another in the bundle and such entanglement barred the single blank to be automatically taken out from the bundle.
In using the conventional apparatus for a bundle of long-continuous blanks each having a length of, for example, exceeding 7 m., the bundle of which containing the bent blanks, it is required to be attended by an operator to each apparatus to take out manually the single blank from the bundle when the entanglement of the blanks occurs and to always watch smooth operation of the apparatus for taking out the long-continuous blanks. In addition, the conventional apparatus require a manual operation for feeding the long-continuous blanks to the subsequent machining station.